


Classmates

by EvergreenLaurel



Series: Breaking the Laws of Attraction [1]
Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: College AU, F/M, First Meeting, Fluff, Happy Quinn - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 10:18:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10965231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvergreenLaurel/pseuds/EvergreenLaurel
Summary: “I’ll tell you my secrets of getting through a tedious lecture if you tell me yours.”Happy decides that her Applied Physics course may not end up being as boring as she anticipated.





	Classmates

Happy mentally groaned as she trudged into Byron Hall 312 for her first Applied Physics class of the semester. She was pretty sure that she could pass this class in her sleep but getting credit for it meant that she had to actually attend and she had heard that this professor was particularly strict on taking roll. Spotting a seat in the back of the class, closest to the door, Happy slid behind the long table and pulled out her laptop. Maybe no one would notice if she worked on her engine redesign during class if she sat far enough away from people.

Within a few minutes the room filled with college students and then, finally, the professor came in through a side door at the bottom of the amphitheater-style room. Looking around at the group of students, he plugged his laptop into the overhead projector and a map of the room’s seating popped up on the wall.

“Welcome. My name is Dr. Holbert and this is PH 597: Applied Physics. If you are not in the correct class, now is the time to leave.” Three students across the auditorium scurried out, their heads down. “For those of you who are left, attendance in this class is mandatory. To make recording your attendance easier, you will sit according to your student ID numbers. The chart on the projector will indicate your seat. Get moving.”

This time Happy didn’t even bother stifling her groan. There went her plan to stay incognito. Spotting her number on the board, she gathered her things and slowly moved through the chaos of rearranging students to the section on her far left, smack dab in the middle. Within a few moments a girl with fiery red hair and glasses sat down on her left. Happy noted with relief that the girl seemed disinterested in making conversation. A moment later a guy about Happy’s age plopped down in the seat to her right. He was wearing pretty typical graduate student attire: a dark polo and khakis and pulled out a pretty impressive laptop that looked custom built from his backpack.

Once settled, he sent a sidelong glance at Happy and muttered, “Someone doesn’t look excited for class.”

Happy scoffed. “I could pass this course in my sleep.”

“Oh?” The guy raised his eyebrows. “Well, if we’re being proudly honest here, so could I. When I was twelve.”

Happy rolled her eyes, “Then why are you here?”

“I do research with Dr. Hollins in the math department. Employees of the university get free tuition so I figured that another degree couldn’t hurt. Looks good on paper.”

Well, wasn’t he a smug one. She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“So why are _you_ here?”

Happy shrugged. “Degrees get you better jobs. Having a doctorate in Physics will make me more valuable as an engineer. Plus, my boss has this tuition reimbursement program he just instituted and he’s been bugging me to take advantage of it. It’s stupid, but he promised me a substantial raise, so here I am.”

The last shuffles of students finding their seats died down and Dr. Holbert began switching slides to begin his lecture.

Right before the professor started talking the guy next to Happy bent over and whispered, “I’ll tell you my secrets of getting through a tedious lecture if you tell me yours.”

Happy hesitated, then nodded. What did she have to lose?

The guy grinned and rearranged his laptop so that she could easily see the screen. Clicking open a word processor he typed: -Third row from the bottom. Seats 4 and 5.-

Happy glanced up and spotted the spaces he indicated. The seats were filled with a skinny guy in plaid and a blond girl with a sparkly headband. She lifted her eyebrows at her seatmate.

His hands went back to his laptop. -I’m willing to bet you whatever you want that they will be romantically involved by the end of the semester.-

-How would you possibly know that?- Happy’s fingers went to her own laptop, angling it so that it was visible to the both of them.

-I have a lot of degrees,- He typed back, a smug look on his face.

-Psychology?-

-Psychiatry, _please_ _;_ I’m not a quack. Ivy League.-

-So what makes your ‘highly trained’ brain think that skinny and blondy will be locking lips within the next four months?-

-Notice how she keeps looking at him then as soon as he notices she looks away. She’s flirting as hard as she can. He’s been sticking out his chest ever since she sat down next to him, trying to seem buffer than he is. I saw their backpacks coming in and they both have buttons on them from the same band so they have similar interests. And look at the way they’re angled toward one another. Not unlike the way we’re angled right now.- The guy had the audacity to look up from his computer and wink.

Happy shifted her position so she was facing forward even though it made it harder to type. -Nice try.-

-I’m a genius and the semester has only just begun and I foresee many long hours of entertaining each other in this room. Given our 15-week semester and accounting for three tests, my extremely accurate calculations estimate 42 hours of interaction. 1.75 days of straight interaction is plenty of time to establish a bond. If you think of it logically, it is only a matter of time before you succumb to my charms.-

-You forget I’m a genius too. And stubborn.-

-Then it will be the battle of the brains. Bring it on!-

Happy couldn’t help but chuckle at that. -Good luck.-

The guy nodded, seemingly pleased with his progress. -So I profile people. What do you do with tedious lectures?-

Happy smirked and pulled up her latest engine designs. Arranging her word processor next to it, she wrote, -Cool stuff.-

The guy’s eyes flashed over the specs excitedly. Leaning back over to his laptop, he typed, -You are not wrong.-

The rest of the lecture flew by as Happy’s classmate questioned her on every part of her engine and suggested modifications. Before she knew it, the professor was ending his lecture and the auditorium got noisy again as students packed up their things.

“This was fun,” Her seatmate said as he slid his laptop back into his backpack and zipped it up. “I’ll see you Wednesday?”

“Yeah,” Happy nodded, surprising herself with how eager she was to repeat the hour. “Oh, uhm, by the way, I’m Happy.”

The guy grinned and took her hand, shaking it warmly with a twinkle in his eye. “Nice to meet you, Happy. I’m Ralph.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm thinking that now's about the time for me to start dodging rotten tomatoes thrown my way for what I just did to y'all... But I have my reasons, promise! First of all, note that I did say that Ralph was about Happy's age so in this AU Ralph is an adult--so the flirting was totally not inappropriate! Just, maybe, a little sickening.... Secondly, this is the first of a rare pairing series I'm starting called "Breaking the Laws of Attraction". I feel that the Scorpion fandom has a shortage of truly bizarre stories and I intend to remedy that over the summer.


End file.
